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Most Horror Isn’t Scary. Here’s Why.

Nothing is Written

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Why are some horror movies genuinely terrifying while others somehow leave us feeling nothing?

In this video, I break down one of the most powerful principles in horror storytelling and how your audience's own imagination can create far more terrifying images than anything you can put on screen.

We'll look at why the oldest ghost story techniques still work thousands of years later.

If you're a horror fan, screenwriter, filmmaker or storyteller who wants to understand what actually makes something scary, this one's for you.

Subscribe for more videos on screenwriting, filmmaking and the storytelling principles behind the movies that work — and the ones that don't.

#Horror #HorrorMovies #Screenwriting #Filmmaking #HorrorWriting

20 Comments

@nothingiswritten1613 Creator 1 day ago Pinned

Horror folk are such a passionate and engaged audience! Question for you all: what's a topic you would like to see my take on next?

@hebruixe9125 3 days ago

"Seeing the monster is a relief". That's what it boils down to. That's really really helpful.

@HolaHello-Learn-Aprender 5 days ago

Spot on. A perfect example that's missing here is the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre". Most people swear it's this incredibly gory splatter movie, but in reality, there's barely a single drop of blood shown on screen. Tobe Hooper just implied the violence off-screen or through clever editing. Our brain just fills in the blanks with the worst possible images.
Same thing with Ridley Scott's "Alien". The xenomorph is only on screen for maybe four minutes in the entire movie and almost always hidden in shadows. What you can't clearly see just messes with you the most. Like you said, our imagination does all the heavy lifting.

@jbponzi1 3 days ago

Tired tropes, such as a dark basement are just that tired. When something shows up in the comfort of daylight puts one on edge. Simply, nowhere and no time of day is safe.

@evanpb 6 days ago

Hearing Nikki's screams on the phone was so brilliantly done because it then effectively made every subsequent scene MORE terrifying on a conceptual level, it upped the ante and increased the stakes knowing that Nikki was trapped inside of this "wish demon." It's that one scene that makes the movie really stick with you after the credits roll, because the concept of being trapped inside your own body and having your autonomy ripped from you is terrifying on an existential level.

@Bat_Boy 5 days ago (edited)

Do not THINK for the audience, make them think, make the feel. Along the lines of "show, don't tell". 'Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' was given an "X" rating for "tone". If you watch 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' there is one scene with chainsaw meeting flesh, and it was when Leatherface drops it, hitting his own leg.

Thats why sound and facial expressions tell us, without telling us.

@kaestacks 5 days ago

Oh so that’s why in horror games I get so much anxiety from the sound effects

@mooseflapper 6 days ago

0:30 The thing that scared me wasn't the shape but the clock on the wall. I should have picked the kids up at 1 o'clock.

@dorkydekker 6 days ago

8:12 dude you scared the shit out of me

@b.lloydreese2030 5 days ago

David lynch's fire walk with me and parts of twin peaks are terrifying

@Liquor.McMalty 5 days ago

You're exactly right. Makes me think that's why so many people hated the ending to "Signs".
The entire movie the aliens are implied or heavliy obscured—the scariest being the birthday party.

Though from a story perspective I get the "poetic ending where all the life circumstances that save the day are the actual signs.
The oddly lit and framed GCI alien reveal just didn't stick the landing.

@UsponZmije 1 day ago

Horror dies the moment you stop caring about the characters. If you are not related to the main character, if you don't care what would happen to them, if they would survive at all, nothing is scary anymore. Unrelatable characters and situations are dread killers, and no amount of mystery can compensate that.

@greenman5255 6 days ago

I figured out that the spider on the mirror wasn't real when you said you are in Australia. There are no spiders in Australia that small.

@maicon.2955 6 days ago

I partially agree with you. Although it is scary to not know the threat, if you keep teasing the monster showing up but it never does, you might frustrate some viewers. It's all a matter of balance.

I don't see any problem with the villain being revealed in the second half, the problem is the design isn't always effective. If you know how to create a good design and make good use of lighting, you will still be able to scare people with or without the threat on scene.

@kaushiksunapu5657 2 days ago

For me, the scariest scene in Obsession was the one were Bear woke up to find Nikki standing in a dark corner, supposedly watching him sleep. You don't notice her first, because of how dark it is, but even when you do, it doesn't really help. Because as you say in the video, she is only a half visible anthropomorphic form here. Even when they zoom in on her face, as she is sobhing to bear in a really unsettling way, her face doesn't look human. It's distorted, just like her voice. Ugh, I love obsession for how unsettling it made Nikki through such classic tricks

@christian-schubert 2 days ago

Blair Witch initially aimed at (at least partially) showing "the monster".

When shooting Blair Witch, they actually planned to frighten the actors by having some crew member show up dressed up as a ghost (if I remember it correctly) in the middle of the night.

The scene is in the movie, it's where you can hear one of them call out "What is this?". However, they inadvertently never pointed the camera at "the thing" - most likely making the whole scene much more effective (by accident).

@retronaut6396 20 hours ago

Very true. My favourite horror film is Robert Wise's The Haunting from 1963, which is the perfect example of making something terrifying without ever showing the ghost.

@PirateLeota 3 days ago (edited)

I saw Jaws when it came out in 1975. To this day, the opening scene with the girl in the water still bothers me the most.

Edited to add - I've had some very strange, dare I say 'paranormal', things happen in my life, and the feeling of dread when they happen and you don't know what is causing it, and the fact that you can't "see" anything that makes sense, is terrifying. Feels like the rug is being pulled out from under you, because how can you deal with something you can't see.

@dq405 5 days ago (edited)

One of my favourite moments in THE QUEEN OF SPADES (Thorold Dickinson, 1949) involves the house of Saint Germain. After Countess Ranevskaya has walked inside and disappeared, the camera lingers on the pitch black doorway, until she SCREAMS at full volume, and then the film cuts to the horses of her coach outside as they, too, rear up and scream. It's a brilliant scare in a brilliant film.